As we face the dual challenge of maintaining access to secure and affordable energy supplies while mitigating the effects of climate change, simulation is increasingly relied upon to solve the difficult technological problems at the heart of the sustainability issue.

A Volume Rendering of the fluid flow of a rotating Pelton water turbine.

Presented at the STAR European Conference 2011

By far the largest driver of economic growth in the modern world is the deployment of stable, consistent and abundant energy. Without electricity or gasoline for our cars, every developed nation would grind to a halt instantly. CD-adapco presents the full range of tools needed to examine the entire energy industry, from fossil fuels to alternative energy such as wind and solar power and even nuclear energy.

Fossil Fuels

The Fossil Fuels have driven human progress for more than a century and a half, starting from the highly inefficient boiler steam engines powered by coal. Today’s need for balancing high energy demands with environmental protection requires high efficiency energy generation from fossil fuels. CD-adapco offers a full range of tools to optimize and analyze every kind of fossil fuel energy production, including coal and natural gas. STAR-CCM+ is the main tool, which also can examine specific technologies such as turbomachinery, applied to turbines critical for energy generation. Please see our Oil and Gas page for more information on these topics as well.

Nuclear

Nuclear energy has been an enormous source of energy for the developed world for half a century. Most developed countries get at least 20% of their total energy from nuclear power plants, which have no shortage of challenges to overcome. CD-adapco presents many tools available to nuclear reactor design, chiefly STAR-CCM+, which can do thermal analysis, cooldown safety simulations, pebble bed reactor simulations, optimization, and fluid flow analysis all within one unified interface, reducing time and optimizing the workflow. In addition to this, keeping spent fuel stored safely and cooled also presents challenges, which STAR-CCM+ rises to.

After the Fukushima Tsunami incident, analysis of the exterior to the plant has to be closely examined. STAR-CCM+ can simulate, among other things, the effect of waves on buildings, taken from our marine analysis applications. Please see our Marine Page for more information.

Renewables & Alternatives

Renewable Energy is an explosive growth area of the energy industry. The challenges faced to protect our environment have created a push for alternative energy sources from fossil fuels. STAR-CCM+ is fully capable of performing solar farm simulations, wind turbine analysis, wind farm design and optimization, and turbine analysis through turbomachinery, which can be applied to wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric energy source designs.